1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a calling party identifying apparatus (Caller ID) and method therefor, especially for one which identifies the calling party and displays the related information including the caller's name (not necessarily the registered name for the number), the telephone number of the caller, and the preference degree of the caller, thus screening the call before the user receives the call. The calling party identifying apparatus is capable of calling a pager right after a high preference degree call is not answered by the called party so the called party will not miss important calls. Moreover, the calling party identifying apparatus can cut off any call ringing if the latter is not coming in during preferred hours for the corresponding caller to call. The preferred hours for different callers have already been preset in a memory of the calling party identifying apparatus. The calling party identification apparatus is allowed to be installed on any telephone set or any telecommunication device linked to a telephone line for screening the incoming information therefrom and preventing any unwelcome or strange information to come in. The calling party identification apparatus also allows a user to make a call merely by dialing one or more characters instead of dialing the whole number.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the conventional telephone service, a called party is informed of a calling party by a sequence of ringing sounds from a telephone. The called party has to pick up the phone and listen to the calling party to identify the calling party. However, the called party might not want to talk with the calling party if he knows first "who" is calling. It is known that some exchange systems of the telephone company can send identification information including the telephone number of the calling party to any called party. Currently, there are Caller ID devices which work with the above mentioned exchange system to display the caller's telephone number as well as other information related to the incoming call. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,956 issued on Apr. 15, 1986 to Carolyn A. Doughty. However, with these types of devices, the customer must depend on the telephone company for transmitting the desired information pertaining to the incoming call.
Another exchange system can provide identification information including the telephone number and the name of the person registered for that number. Therefore, with this exchange system, the called party can obtain the calling number and the registered name for that number when the call is coming in. However, once again a party must depend on the telephone company for transmitting the desired information pertaining to the call. Furthermore, the calling party is not necessarily the person registered for that number. The calling party may be merely a family member or a company staff of the registered person. There are Caller ID devices which include a directory of telephone numbers and parties associated with those numbers. The circuitry of these types of Caller ID devices detect an incoming call and compare the number with numbers in the directory for identifying the calling party. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,496 issued on May 8, 1990 to Romek Figa et al. However, these types of systems do not let a user prioritize an incoming call nor do these system provide a means to contact a called party if the telephone call is a high priority call and the called party has not answered the call. Therefore, it is requisite to provide a calling party identifying apparatus capable of receiving the identification information and informing the called party the exact caller's name, the telephone number of the caller, and the preference degree of the caller, thus, the called party can respond by receiving or not receiving the phone call. The calling party identification apparatus can also contact the called party if a high priority call is made and the called party has not answered the call. Furthermore, the calling party identification apparatus can disable the ringing of the phone call if the calling party has called out of the preferred hours for him to call.